Icahn to seek removal of Yahoo CEO Yang: report

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poster_boy

9:42 pm on Jun 3, 2008 (gmt 0)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn would seek to remove Jerry Yang as chief executive of Yahoo Inc if Icahn succeeded in a proxy battle against the company over its failure to reach a deal with Microsoft Corp, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Icahn has proposed an alternate slate of directors for Yahoo's board, but has yet to directly target Yang over the breakdown in talks early this month for a $47.5 billion deal.

"It's no longer a mystery to me why Microsoft's offer isn't around," the Journal quoted Icahn as saying. "How can Yahoo keep saying they're willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they're completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone?"

Yahoo fired back in a statement: "Yahoo's board of directors, including Jerry Yang, has been crystal clear that it would consider any proposal by Microsoft that was in the best interests of its shareholders."